The debate continues – brewers have been packaging their products in both aluminum cans and glass bottles for years, and now, according to a recent report via the Aluminum Association and Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), cans have taken the lead with ongoing sustainability advantages to the aluminum beverage container compared to competing packaging types.

The report updates several key performance indicators (KPI) for 2020 and finds that consumers recycle aluminum cans at more than double the rate of plastic (PET) bottles. Aluminum beverage cans also contain anywhere from 3X to 20X more recycled content than glass or PET bottles and are far more valuable as scrap, making aluminum a key driver of the financial viability of the recycling system in the United States. This year’s report also introduces a brand-new KPI, the closed-loop circularity rate, which measures the percentage of recycled material used to go back into the same product — in this case a new beverage container.  A two-page report summary is available here. 

The report also shows a modest decline in the aluminum beverage can consumer recycling rate last year. The rate declined from 46.1 percent in 2019 to 45.2 percent in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptions in the market. Despite the rate decline, the number of used beverage cans (UBC) recycled by the industry actually increased by about 4 billion cans to 46.7 billion cans in 2020. The rate nevertheless decreased amidst growing can sales last year. The 20-year average for the consumer recycling rate is around 50 percent.

Click here to download the full report.